


i loved you then (i love you now)

by ericaismeg, foxerica (ericaismeg)



Series: rare ships [27]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Hale Family, F/F, Fluff, Happy Ending, Magical Accidents, Married Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Mistakes, Misunderstandings, Weddings, Witches, love spells
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-24
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-05-09 00:02:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5518004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ericaismeg/pseuds/ericaismeg, https://archiveofourown.org/users/ericaismeg/pseuds/foxerica
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I think I accidentally cursed my ex and now I feel bad." AU</p>
<p>Cora's a witch who did a spell without knowing it, Lydia's the ex who is now suddenly madly in love with her again, and her big brother is getting married soon. Cora's fucked.</p>
            </blockquote>





	i loved you then (i love you now)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [roadsider](https://archiveofourown.org/users/roadsider/gifts).



> Originally posted [here!](http://foxerica.tumblr.com/post/133701910977/oh-my-god-coralydia-i-think-i-accidentally)

Cora jumps back in surprise from the book of spells that her mother had given her twelve years ago. It’s sparking and hissing at her. She glances around. God, if her siblings knew that she had pulled this thing out to create a date for Derek’s wedding, they would be _so_  pissed. She tentatively steps forward to the book and looks down.

It had been a simple translation spell. She just wanted to understand the words in English. Only, the page is completely black, and she’ll never know if that was the spell she was looking for.

Cora sighs. Maybe Derek’s right. Maybe she should do this the old-fashion way and find a date from a bar or something. Laura had met her partner online and she vows that OkCupid is the way to go. Cora doesn’t have the heart to tell her that she thinks that OkCupid is for people who couldn’t get dates. And Cora could get dates. She _could._  Usually.

So what if she’s going through a dry spell and there hasn’t been anyone in her life since her ex-girlfriend? Cora closes the book, and tucks it back into the chest. Derek would be so proud.

If he knew that she had attempted to create a person solely for the purpose of his wedding, he’d sit her down for a seven hour lecture. And really, she didn’t have time for that. She had a date to find.

 

✿ ❤ ✿ ❤ ✿

 

Cora doesn’t really think to look at her phone when she hears it ringing. She answers it, and puts it to her ear before it even occurs to her. “Hello?”

_“Cora, um, it’s Stiles. We kind of have an issue,”_ Stiles says, with a sigh.  _“You know I wouldn’t be calling you if I didn’t think there was another option.”_

She sits down. “What’s wrong with Lydia?”

God, it hurts to say that name. She closes her eyes, ignoring the way her chest starts to ache. It’s been almost two _years_  now and she still feels it weighing on her just like the day that Lydia had broken up with her. Cora presses her fingers to the bridge of her nose, bracing herself.

_“Well, um, see, it’s really weird. She thinks she’s coming to our wedding with…you?”_ Stiles tells her.  _“Whenever I tell her otherwise, she becomes really angry.”_

“Why would she think that? We haven’t talked in years,” Cora says, frowning. She rubs her nose and huffs. “Tell her that she’s the reason we’re not together and she can fuck off. This isn’t a funny joke.”

_“I know it’s not. But Cora, I think she really believes she’s going with you to the wedding.”_

“Whatever. Let her think that. She’ll be in for a big surprise,” Cora tells her. “Stiles, I can’t deal with this right now. I’m having a rough day.”

_“Cora, this might be more serious than you think.”_

“Nope, not listening to it! I love you and I’ll see you on your wedding day. I already explained to Derek that I can’t make it to the rehearsal because of work. Have a good week, okay? Bye!” Cora hangs up before Stiles can say anything else.

Why the hell would Lydia ever be under the assumption that they were going to the wedding together? She pushes the thousand questions she has out of her mind and heads out to a bar. She’s not sure she’ll find anyone to take to Derek and Stiles’ wedding at a bar at 2pm on a Tuesday, but what does she have to lose?

 

✿ ❤ ✿ ❤ ✿

 

Cora doesn’t really think much about the Lydia situation until she walks into her office and finds a huge bouquet waiting for her on her desk. She freezes, surprised at the huge arrangement, but also feeling like she’s been tossed back into the past. Lydia had always sent her over-the-top flower displays like this so that everyone in her office knew that Cora was taken.

Not that anyone else had been gunning for her affections. She looks around in the hallway and sees that her friend is at his desk. She walks over to him and says, “Danny? What are those flowers doing on my desk?”

Danny looks up, and smiles. “I don’t know. But it’s nice that you and Lydia are back together.”

Cora frowns. “Danny, we’re not–we’re not together.”

“Um, then you might want to tell her that. She’s been posting about you all over Facebook.”

“What? Show me. Show me, right now!” Cora demands.

Danny pulls up Lydia’s profile picture. Sure enough, there’s a photo of Lydia with the flowers and the caption reads, ** _Can’t wait until the love of my life sees these on her desk! I hope you like them, C._**

“What?” Cora whispers. “Danny, that’s so weird. Stiles told me that Lydia thinks we’re going to the wedding together? And now this? I haven’t talked to her since we broke up.”

“Uh–” Danny looks back at the screen. “Then what the hell is she doing?”

“I have no clue. But it’s freaking me out. I’m going to do some work. Forget that this happened. Can you take the flowers somewhere?” Cora asks. “Bring them home to Jackson or maybe give them to Caitlin?”

“Sure,” Danny says.

He follows her into the office. She takes a moment to read the card that’s attached to the flowers. Cora lets Danny take the display away before she flips the card over to read the message.

**_You understand me like no one else can. I hope these make you smile._ **

**_Love you,_ **

**_Lyd. xo._ **

Cora reads it again. And again. She’s confused by what it means, but she doesn’t throw it out. Instead, she tucks it under her keyboard and buries herself into her work. Danny pokes his head in a few hours later to let her know that he gave the flowers to Caitlin who passed them onto Heather. They, apparently, now have a date.

At least the flowers are doing some good for someone.

 

✿ ❤ ✿ ❤ ✿

 

Cora is startled when she comes home to rose petals on the floor leading to the bedroom. She has a sinking feeling it’s Lydia, and she slips back out of the apartment to call Stiles.

“You have to come and get Lydia. She’s in my apartment,” Cora tells Stiles when he answers the phone. “She has rose petals all over the floor. I don’t–”

_“I told you something was weird with her. I’ll come get her. Did you two talk at all?”_  Stiles asks.

“No. I saw the petals and left. I can’t do this, Stiles. I can’t see her. Not yet.” Cora sighs and runs her hand through her hair. “I’m sorry. I’m going to a bar or something. I’ll talk to you later. Please just make sure it’s all cleaned up.”

_“You got it, sis.”_ There’s a pause before he asks,  _“You gonna be okay?”_

“Yeah, probably. I love you,” Cora says.

“Love you too,” he responds before they hang up.

When she gets to the bar, she runs into an old friend of hers. She asks Isaac if he wants to come with her to the wedding, since he hadn’t gotten an invite. Isaac agrees, saying it’ll be nice to catch up with everyone. He apologizes for losing touch after he moved to France to follow Allison, a girl he’d been in love with. Cora waves off his apologies and tells him it’s just nice to see him again.

She comes home, a little tipsy, to an empty apartment. She’d never admit it to anyone, but she curls up in her bed and cries when she finds a forgotten rose petal.

_I miss you, Lydia._

✿ ❤ ✿ ❤ ✿

 

“Cora!” She hears Lydia before she sees her. Cora slips her hand into Isaac’s for comfort as she turns to see her ex-girlfriend. Lydia looks as flawless as always. She wears a stunning red dress that makes her soft pink lips look even more enticing. Lydia’s hair is perfect. Her heels make Cora drool a little. But the first thing Cora really notices about Lydia is how her bright smile turns into a deep frown when her eyes land on Cora and Isaac’s hands. “Cora, what are you doing?”

“Lydia, I’m not sure why you think we’re dates for this wedding–” Cora starts.

“Because we’re _dating,”_  Lydia retorts. She narrows her eyes on Isaac. “I really appreciate it if you didn’t hold my girlfriend’s hand like you think you have a chance with her.”

Cora’s lips part, but nothing comes out. She looks up at Isaac, who she had debriefed about the situation but nothing had prepared her for this. Cora looks at Lydia again before she quietly says, “Lydia, we’re not dating. You broke up with me two years ago and–”

“I would _never_  break up with you!” Lydia shouts. Heads turn from the crowd around them. Cora swallows. Lydia shakes her head. “Only an absolute moron would break up with you. Cora, you’re amazing. You’re hilarious and you have such a big heart. You’re a sarcastic little shit who drives me up the wall but I wouldn’t have you any other way. You’re gorgeous, especially first thing in the morning when your hair is an absolute disaster.”

Cora’s at a loss for words.

“Why aren’t you dating again?” Isaac asks, quietly from beside her.

Cora shoots him a dark look. She feels a little helpless though. “Lydia, we’re–you broke up with me–”

“You know what, let’s discuss this after the wedding. I don’t want to ruin Stiles and Derek’s wedding with some silly misunderstanding,” Lydia says, stepping forward to press her lips against Cora’s cheek. She gives Isaac a death glare before she walks away.

Cora turns to her friend and says, “I don’t–I don’t understand what’s going on.”

“It’s like she’s under some sort of love spell or something,” Isaac tells her.

Cora freezes. “Oh god. Oh god. Oh my god. I think I accidentally cursed my ex.”

“Well, fuck her,” Isaac says. “Clearly, she hurt you. And–”

“No, Isaac. I have to make this right. Before they say _I do._  What time is it?” Cora demands.

“Um, it’s about three thirty.”

“The ceremony doesn’t start until five. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Cora presses her lips to Isaac’s cheek before she rushes out of the venue. She can’t believe it took her this long to figure it out. She’d been messing around with a few spells up there and it hadn’t been until that translation spell had gone wrong that anything had happened.

Cora rushes as fast as she can up the stairs in her dress and heels when she arrives at Derek’s house. She makes her way up into the attatic and goes to the chest. Cora yanks at the book until it comes out and then she throws it onto the table.

She starts flipping through the book.

It’s going to take too long to find the spell. She’ll have to have Isaac look for it while the ceremony is happening. Cora starts to climb down the stairs and she almost trips twice as she rushes back to her car.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

 

✿ ❤ ✿ ❤ ✿

 

The ceremony is beautiful. Lydia stares at her the entire time. Cora mostly ignores that though. She kisses her brother’s cheek at the end and says congratulations. Then she has to walk down the aisle. Lydia follows her to walk beside her, despite the fact that she isn’t supposed to.

“Lydia, stop it. You’re under a love spell. None of this is real.”

“Nothing’s been more real to me,” Lydia responds quietly.

Cora ditches her the second she can to go find Isaac. She corners him and says, “Please tell me you found a counter spell.”

“I didn’t. But you know what they say about all curses?” Isaac asks, eyes twinkling. “They’re usually broken with true love’s kiss.”

“I’m not her true love, dumb ass. She broke up with me, remember?” Cora mutters. She gives Stiles and Derek a huge smile when they walk over to her.

“Cora, what’s going on with Lydia? She’s in hysterics because you told her that nothing is real,” Derek tells her instead of a nice greeting.

“She accidentally cursed her. Love spell,” Isaac says, shrugging. “We can’t find the counter spell though. So I said True Love’s Kiss.”

“Are you going to be okay?” Derek asks, concern. “I know how hard it was to lose Lydia the first time…”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. I just…I’m not her True Love so I don’t know what we’re going to do,” Cora mutters.

“You should try,” Stiles says, shrugging. “Otherwise, you’ll spend our entire wedding with her crying at your side.”

Cora huffs. “Fine. Just once. If it doesn’t work then you all owe me a trip to Ireland or somewhere.”

“I don’t see how that works, but whatever, Cora. Just give it a shot,” Derek says. “Otherwise, her crying is going to drive us all crazy.”

Cora rolls her eyes, but she leaves them in a search to find Lydia. It’s not that hard. She’s exactly where Cora had ditched her, sitting on the floor, crying into her hands. Cora frowns and walks over to her.

“Lydia,” she says, softly. Cora sits down on the floor in front of her. She puts her hand on Lydia’s arm, and Lydia peeks through her hands to see her.

“You left me–”

“I’m sorry,” Cora says. “I shouldn’t have left you. You must be very confused. You’re under a spell. Everyone seems to think that a kiss might help you snap out of it. I’m so, so sorry I did this to you, Lydia. I don’t even really know how.”

Lydia sniffs. “You’re not going to leave me again?”

“No,” Cora promises. She takes Lydia’s hand in hers. “Do you feel comfortable with trying a kiss to break the curse?”

“Does that mean I won’t love you anymore?” Lydia assks, pouting now.

“Hopefully,” Cora says, quietly.

“I don’t want to kiss. I don’t want to lose this feeling. You–you are so wonderful, and I love you so much. I don’t want to lose that. I remember…I remember falling in love with you. We were hungover from that party that Danny threw. It was like seven in the morning and you were dragging me out of bed to go out for breakfast even though we hadn’t crashed until four a.m. Then on our way out of the apartment, you found some leftover cupcakes and you shoved one in my face. So I shoved one in yours. You kissed me, icing and all.”

Cora’s smiling despite the fact that her heart breaks all over again. She nods her head, squeezing Lydia’s hand. “I remember that like it was yesterday.”

“I don’t want to lose that,” Lydia whispers, her voice cracking.

“I know. I know. Me neither. But we have to. Otherwise, it’s not real. We owe it to each other for it to be real,” Cora murmurs.

“It’ll make you happy if we kiss and break the curse?” Lydia asks.

“Yes.”

“Then we will kiss.”

Cora swallows; emotions building in her throat make it hard to breathe.

“Will you spend the rest of the wedding with me?” Lydia asks. “After the spell’s broken?”

“I–if you want,” Cora says, although her chest is heavy. Lydia wouldn’t want that. In fact, she’d walk away when she remembers everything. Cora closes her eyes. “I missed you.”

Lydia whispers, “I missed you too.”

Then Cora is greeted with the familiar and warm lips of Lydia. She presses her lips a bit harder, slipping her hand around the back of Lydia’s head and kissing her a little deeper.

When they pull apart, Cora knows it worked. She feels it in every fiber of her being; had felt the kiss shift from love to confusion. Cora squeezes Lydia’s hand before letting go. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Lydia breathes.

“Do you–?” Cora starts.

“I remember,” Lydia murmurs. She puts some fingers to her head though. “It’s a little foggy but…thank you for being so kind about it.”

“I’m sorry that I put you into that situation at all,” Cora whispers. “Lydia, I–”

“I know,” she says, tight smile. “You’d never hurt me on purpose. Now, why do you suppose people think we’re sitting on the ground?”

Cora beams. “Who cares? It looks like we’re just chilling together. Stiles, Derek, and Isaac all know what’s going on. I’m sure some others do too. But we just look like we were having a moment.”

“We were,” Lydia murmurs. She smiles, her lips tight, before she starts to stand up. Cora gets up first and stretches her hand out to help Lydia the rest of the way. Lydia brushes the skirt of her dress and says, “Thanks for your help, Cora. You don’t have to spend the rest of the night with me, if you don’t want. That was…”

“The love spell talking. Yeah, no problem. Have a good night, Lydia.” Cora turns and rushes back towards where she left Isaac. She bumps into him half way and buries her face into his chest. He holds her tightly, stroking her hair, and rubbing his thumb in circles on her back.

“It’s going to be okay,” Isaac whispers.

“What’s this I hear about a curse and Lyd–Cora, are you okay?” Laura’s voice comes suddenly. Cora shakes her head, and she doesn’t budge from Isaac’s embrace. Cora can’t really focus on much of what Laura’s whispering to her.

She pulls it together and when the three of them walk into the reception, Cora’s head is tilted back and she’s laughing. Her eyes skirt over Lydia’s and she turns to face Isaac as they walk. Laura hip checks her lightly and reminds her that this night will be over soon.

Danny’s around for the reception, and he asks her to dance. She accepts with a smile on her face. He quietly gets caught up on what had happened with Lydia, and then he spends his time making her laugh, making her forget.

 

✿ ❤ ✿ ❤ ✿

 

_“Alright, folks! This is the last song of the night. Grab your special someone and make this a night to remember. Everyone shout for the happy couple. Stiles and Derek, we wish you all the best!”_

Cora freezes when a familiar hand taps her on the shoulder. She looks up to see Lydia standing there, looking a little nerous. And Lydia _never_  looked nervous. “May I have this dance?”

Cora glances around. Most of the guests had started to leave, if they hadn’t already left. Danny is off making out with Isaac in the coat check. Laura has found a hot, rich man she wanted to sleep with. Her brother and his husband are lost in one another, as all newly weds should be.

“Sure,” Cora says, nodding. She takes Lydia’s hand and lets herself be led onto the dance floor. The song is slow, with lyrics full of hope and longing. Cora swallows, but the lump in her throat doesn’t disappear. “How have you been? Other than your ex cursing you with a love spell by accident.”

Lydia lets out a small laugh. “I’ve been better.”

“Oh. I’m sorry to hear that,” Cora murmurs.

“I was better when I was with you,” Lydia continues. “Honestly, this last week has just reminded me why I was so in love with you, and why those feelings haven’t really gone away. I’m a complete idiot, Cora.”

“You’re actually a certified genius, but,” Cora says, unsure what else to say. She stares at Lydia. “I can’t do this again. Let’s just dance.”

Lydia stays quiet for the rest of the song. Cora’s chest aches, but she tries her best to ignore it. She had never been able to make sense of their break up, or why it had affected her so much. They’d only been together for about seven months when Lydia had called it off.

When the last notes of the song places, they part. Cora gives her a fake, short smile. “That was nice. Thank you. I’ll see you around sometime or something. Good luck with everything, Lydia.”

She’s almost back to her table to grab her stuff when Lydia asks, “You never asked me why I broke up with you. Why?”

Cora hesitates before she turns. “Because, you were clearly unhappy if you thought breaking up was your only choice. I’m not going to make someone stay in a miserable situation. No matter how much I love them.”

“You did, didn’t you?” Lydia asks, her voice softer this time.

“Did what?”

“Love me?” Lydia asks. 

“Of course, I loved you! You were _everything_  to me, Lydia. Everything. I could barely sleep without you around, and then you broke up with me. I was a walking zombie for almost a year because I was so emotionally unstable after you broke up with me.”

“You never told me.”

“What?”

“You never told me you were in love with me. I didn’t know. I didn’t know,” Lydia whispers.

Cora isn’t sure what to do, but Lydia is walking away from her. She can’t lose her again. She can’t.

Cora slips out of her heels and runs after her. When she gets close, she grabs Lydia’s arm to stop her. Then she spins around in front of her and kisses her. This time when they pull apart, Cora whispers, “I’m in love with you. I’ve been in love with you for years. There isn’t anyone but you. You’re it. You’re my soul mate, Lydia. I can’t lose you again. I just can’t.”

Lydia smiles, tears filling her eyes. “Okay, okay. I need a moment to think…or to kiss you.”

She leans in for a kiss. Maybe it’s not going to be perfect or fall into place like it had once seemed to, but they’d work through it. They’d work through it this time because it’s worth fighting for, even if it took them two years to see that.

“I missed you,” Lydia whispers. “God, I’ve missed you. Kiss me again. Never stop.”

“Your wish is my command,” Cora teases.

 

✿ ❤ ✿ ❤ ✿


End file.
